Brain Droppings #2

So, back in August I posted a group of random thoughts and called it “Brain Droppings” (stolen from my cousin Dean’s blog). Anyway, here we go again…

• I’ve been listening to All American Rejects and Jimmy Eat World WAY too much lately…don’t know why, but aside from worship music they’re about all I’ve been listening to for a week or two now. Strange.
• I’ve been reading a lot about “What youth ministry will look like in 50 years” on Marko, Kurt, Andy and Mike’s blogs (with a ton of other blogs talking about it too). I touched on some thoughts about the future of youth ministry in a post I wrote about a month ago (click here to see it), but honestly I’m just too worn out right now to think too deeply about it. I don’t believe in the whole “4%” nightmare that is being spread around, but I do believe we’re going to have to change…but honestly, isn’t that a given? My only serious hope/fear would be that we truly need to start focusing on middle school ministry. It makes me sick when I hear youth pastors say that it’s just a “holding pen” until the kids get into high school. If that thinking doesn’t change then pack your bags folks, because youth ministry won’t last long if we only teach our high school kids.
• I really loved Disney World. I saw a commercial for it on TV the other day and I am totally ready to go back again. Walt’s dreams were big and amazing, and the way that Disney captures the heart is impressive. There’s a lot to learn from them about creating environments and themeing spaces that allow you to create a detached environment in any setting. A lot of the theme and set design elements that we do with Stuck are directly influenced by my experiences with Disney.
• Speaking of Disney… have you ever seen Walt’s original plans for EPCOT? He died before they could be brought to life, but basically he wanted EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) to be a futuristic city, where people would actually live and work, right on the Disney property. It was going to be centered around a glistening futuristic skyscraper, which would house the city’s central hub…full of all kinds of amazing things! Of course, the sad reality is that Walt died, and now we’ve got EPCOT with a giant golf ball and a bunch of countries represented around a lake. There’s an exhibit in MGM Studios where you can look at the history of Walt Disney, and you can see Walt’s EPCOT across from a model of the EPCOT golf ball…and you can imagine what it would have been like. I think it would have been great.
• We totally can’t afford one right now, but that hasn’t stopped me from drooling over an X-BOX 360. I’m really not that much of a gamer, but for some reason I’d really love to have one.
• There are some people that I REALLY need to call. I’ve not been a good friend lately.
• LOST was good, but really frustrating as always. I am tired of the plot not advancing, and of things that seemed to be a big deal never being resolved. I still wonder why Kate thought that her airplane toy was so important, and what was up with the Backgammon game between Locke and Walt, and what about the bodies with the white and black rocks in the caves, and what about the monster…and how much it changed from the pilot episode to the “smoke creature” last season, and what about all the other things that drive me crazy about LOST…
• I am REALLY looking forward to the premiere of Battlestar Galactica tonight. Next to 24, it’s my favorite show on TV.
• One last TV post (thanks to TIVO, we watch more than we should!)… The shows I am currently enjoying are: The Office, Jerico (modern day Red Dawn), Heroes (fun so far), The Unit (President Palmer kicking butt and taking names), and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (A decent show, not sure if I’ll stay tuned yet or not).
• There’s a lot of work that I need to get done…so I’d better quit blogging for now.

To Do Lists…

I’m notorious for having about 20 different “to do” lists floating around my desk at any one time. Right now I’ve put them all into one big huge list for me to get finished asap. Amongst the other things on my list, I have to do the following: Finish the content for the new community and resource sections of the Stuck website, update the MiddleNet website and email the MiddleNet team about having a phone meeting, prepare for my trip tomorrow to the Nazarene DLC conference (I’m not even sure what time I fly out tomorrow), make sure everything is ready for the Stuck fundraiser this Thursday (I fly back on Wednesday!), update, finish and launch The Journey website, prepare for going to two services tomorrow (I guess I’m ready, we just have to do it!), make my travel arrangements for a trip to Texas to hear our new Stuck band on the 29th of September, and finally I have to make sure that everything is ready for our DisneyWorld vacation…I am soo excited about that one, but we leave next Saturday!!!

Ok…so, posting about my To Do list isn’t on my To Do list…so I’m out.

Brain Droppings #1

My cousin Dean has these blog entries on his myspace called Brain Droppings where he just flies through a lot of the random things he’s been thinking about lately, and I thought it might be fun to do the same on here from time to time. Plus it makes for a solid blog entry on days where I don’t have one solid thought to blog about! So here goes…

• I was sitting here thinking about my cousins Dean and Duane, and how I’ve been “meaning” to call them both since the fourth of July, but haven’t. I hate the fact that I am always using the excuse of being “really busy”, so I am resolving to call them just to see how they’re doing today.
• I am really anxious/nervous about Stuck’s upcoming fundraiser.
• I am totally loving working with youth at The Journey…our group is small, but growing, and we have some really awesome kids.
• I can’t believe we leave for Disney World in just over two weeks, and we actually have raised all the money for the trip!! After selling a few things that I don’t use anymore, cleaning some extra houses and doing some other work, we finally made it!
• I am REALLY excited that I get to take a one week mini-sabbath in October to work on some writing.
• I’m reading Mark Yaconelli’s “Contemplative Youth Minsitry” right now…incredible.
• I really want to get in better shape, but seem to always be lacking in motivation. Yet daily my body screams out to me “Hey fatty, let’s get this under control”.
• I really hope we get the speakers and artists we want for this year’s Stuck events.
• I really need an administrative assistant, but of course we can’t afford to pay one. That’s interesting, because I’ve gotten several unsolicited resumes from youth workers who were interested in working for Stuck…but right now I’m not even making a salary, so there’s no way we could hire them.
• I could really “use” an X-Box 360. One of the guys in our college group brings his over each week, and I think I’m seriously hooked on the boxing game. Jake and I went seven rounds two weeks ago. Sugar Ray versus De la Hoya. I won. Sugar Ray was victorious. Then a few games later Jake whooped my tail. I smell a rematch.
• In Wichita, the youth ministry network meeting got moved from Monday afternoons to Tuesday mornings. Jill cleans houses then, which means I won’t be able to attend anymore. I really hate that it got moved…but that could just be me being whiney.

Busy 48 hours

So, the past day or two have been a bit of a whirlwind for the family and me. Right now I am back home in Andover, getting ready to head to Omaha tomorrow around noon with the youth from The Journey. I am so incredibly excited about the chance to really spend time with these teens and get to know them. Two of my guitarists from worship team are going as sponsors, so that will be a lot of fun as well. I really am more excited about The Journey than I have been about any church in a long, long time…maybe ever.

So, yesterday I had a meeting with my friend Dave Curtiss at the Nazarene Church’s national offices. We’re partnering with them for an event next August, and I am really excited to see it starting to come together. I think it will be an awesome event!

While I was meeting with Dave, Jill and the kids were with her parents driving up to Maryville Missouri where my sister in-law Karryn graduated from college. I totally hated to miss the graduation, but couldn’t find a better time for my meeting with Dave. So, after my meeting I had a whole night to kill. Went to Barnes and Noble and found some awesome books for $1 each! Really cool interior design book on kitchens and another on bathrooms. Yeah, I’m a dork like that! Then I ate dinner by myself at one of my favorite restaurants, 54th Street Grill. The baja border basket with gringo sauce is unreal! Killed an hour or so at the mall, which is totally boring when you have no money to spend, then met up with my buddy Eric Venable to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I’ll post a review of that when I get back from Omaha, but overall it was ok. After the movie Eric and I chatted about life, family and middle school ministry in the parking lot until about 1AM. Drove back to the in-laws after that and waited until about 2AM for Jill to get back.

Then today it was a nice drive back to Wichita, where we arrived just in time for me to get into another vehicle and go to my 90-day review at The Journey. Great review, Pastor Brent saw a lot of the same areas that I needed work on as I did, so no big surprises there. Ran home from that meeting (I had a 15 minute “window”) and inhaled a PBJ sandwich before my conference call with Doug Tegner from the NNYM. We talked details for the new middle school affinity network, which launches nationally in a few weeks. They already sent their magazine with all the details about it to print…so it’s too late to turn back now! After that I shot out the door to youth group, which I felt went really well tonight.

At youth group, we talked about experiencing God and the different ways that it happens. Out of a group of around 15, about half said that they felt they had never experienced God in their life. Of the ones who felt that they had, the feelings came through the context of relationships with other believers and influences on their life, direct revelation through scripture or through prayer, and experiences in nature, which communicated the presence of God. Pretty cool answers, but having half the group not feel that they’ve ever experienced God was heartbreaking, and very eye opening.

After youth group we headed home where Jill had some Arbonne calls waiting for her. I have to admit, she is really kicking butt on this thing…and it’s cool to watch. Her team is growing, and she’s really gelling with them (like Magellan, she’s so gellin’) . Anyway, in the chaos of everything, we lost sight of Aiden for about 2 minutes. During which time he found a bottle of Lysol, opened it, and was drinking it. When I saw him my heart dropped and Jill and I flew into action. She called poison control, and I screamed and ran around like a crazed monkey (or something like that). Anyway, turns out that it could only have given him a strong stomach-ace, and maybe some vomiting. Luckily neither happened. Still a huge scare, and a reminder that you can’t let the little squirrels out of your sight for a second…and you should probably put the Lysol away when you get home.

So, that’s my past two days… and the next two look to be even busier~!

Oh yeah…almost forgot that I got to talk to my friend Dave tonight. He was my best friend growing up, and one of the few people that I know I can always depend on in a jam. Anyway, I haven’t talked with him in months, and we got to chat for awhile tonight before my phone just quit working completely. Hopefully I’ll get it fixed so I can call him back tomorrow. Fun stuff.

My Fun Week

So, this is a quick break in the middle of a crazy week. Today was all about Stuck in the Middle and getting things moving for our big fundraiser in September (tentatively September 9th now). I’ve been living on the phone, which I normally hate…but it’s the way things are right now. In addition to that, I’m also working on some budget and proposal stuff for a big meeting that I have tomorrow. I think that everything is put together quite well there, but just want to review it and make sure. I’ve also got some big meetings coming down the road that I am trying to prep for as well.

Tuesday we leave to go to Kansas City, where I have the previously mentioned big meeting. While I’m at the big meeting, Jill and her family will be driving up to Maryville, MO to watch her sister Karryn graduate from college. Then it’s back to Wichita on Wednesday morning for more cleaning work for Jill and meetings for me. Wednesday night is youth group too! Then Thursday morning we head for Omaha with the youth group, where we’ll be joining my friend Vanessa and her students for an all-night campout in the Henry Doorley Zoo’s aquarium. That will be followed by a full day at the zoo, then a long drive back to Wichita.

And that’s my fun week!

Thoughts on the fundraiser

Ok, so if you’ve been reading my blog you know that I’ve been spending a LOT of time working on our fundraiser for September. If you’ve been reading my blog for a really long time, then you know that Stuck in the Middle has some debts to friends that we need to take care of yesterday. So, this fundraising event takes on a new meaning in that light. I need it to not just succeed, but I need it to succeed beyond my wildest expectations. We need to connect to the hearts of a handful of people who have the money and the desire to make a major investment in this ministry. So…you get the idea. This thing’s important.

So here’s what I have so far…and I have to be a little careful with the details because most of them aren’t confirmed yet, and I don’t want to prevent something from happening by mentioning it too soon. Ok, so here goes…

For the location, we are trying to get a venue that is donated or at least at a very low cost, but one that would appeal to a wide range of people. There’s a place in town that I think would be perfect, but the trick is going to be getting the space donated. I’ll let you know how that goes later. We have to do this event in September…and we’re looking at doing it on a Saturday night. Weeknights are easy to make excuses for, and Fridays I fear we’ll hit high school football. So, right now I’m thinking Saturday the 2nd.

For the program itself, we plan on serving one heck of a good meal. I’m also looking into bringing out a couple of awesome Christian guys who I think would be fun to have with us and who I think (one I know already does) would really support the ministry. One is a Grammy award winning musician (whom I would ask to do a few songs), the other is an NBA Champion (who can talk, hang out and have fun). I can’t really say more than that right now, but if you know who I’m talking about please don’t post it yet.

We’ll also debut our new donor video from 5ivestonescreative (which rocks!) and will have a brief presentation about Stuck in the Middle. I’m also thinking that we throw in an auction of items donated from local businesses and other fun things (maybe sell off a few middle school kids!).

Past that point, I really don’t know what to do. I’ve heard from some non-Christian friends that we should serve alcohol, which in most non-ministry fundraisers normally produces more donated monies. Though I found that to be really funny, you can see why it doesn’t fit here. The other thought was to have someone bar the doors from the outside and then proceed to shake everyone upside down to get the money from their pockets and then have them all sign blank checks before leaving. Somehow that just didn’t seem ethical either.

So…if you have any ideas, suggestions, snide remarks, let me know.

Blogging Slump

So, I wonder if any of you other bloggers would have some advice for me. The past few days I have often thought “oh, I should blog about that”, but when I get back home in front of my laptop I realize that I just don’t have the desire to blog right now. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been letting financial stuff (personal and Stuck) get me down, or maybe it’s the joy/pressure of preaching this coming Sunday…but either way I just haven’t felt the urge to blog these past few days.

Can any of you bloggers relate?

Anyway, instead of firing out 5 different blogs in the next five minutes, I am going to list my “potential blog posts”. Remember, these are just things that I have thought about blogging about, but may or may not actually do so. I know you’re literally holding your breath in anticipation, so here goes the list (and don’t worry, it’s short):

1. A review of Superman Returns, a movie that I loved so much I saw it two nights in a row.

2. A review of Click, a movie that I also really enjoyed, but only saw once because it made me cry. (Yes, unlike Chuck Norris, I cry)

3. A review of Pirates of the Caribbean 2, which I haven’t seen yet but would love to if anyone wants to pay my way (hint, hint)

4. Some thoughts on ministry burnout following a round table conversation on this topic at The Creel Institute.

5. Some thougths on middle school events, and whether the location you hold them at really matters.

6. Thougths and impressions from my tour today of Wild West World, Kansas’ next big tourist attraction.

7. Thoughts that I’ve had in preperation for my teaching this Sunday at The Journey, where I am 80% certain that I’ll be talking about being an authentic community, and what on earth that means.

So…there’s the list. We’ll see where I go next, and if I actually blog on any of those topics.